


The Joining of the Ways

by kishiriaz



Category: Horus Heresy - Various Authors
Genre: Happy Ending, Multi, Retirement AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-03-29 06:38:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3886120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kishiriaz/pseuds/kishiriaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I reject the reality of "The Parting of the Ways" and substitute my own!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Joining of the Ways

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nighthaunting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nighthaunting/gifts).



“Bjorn.”

 _Has it been 1,000 years already?_ Skitla.

“Bjorn, wake up, Great Wolf.”

_Let me sleep. I don’t want another set of purity seals. I need no more Rout fetishes. Paint me not with bindrunes._

“Bjorn, wake up.”

A woman’s voice. _Don’t bring a woman before me as a temptation. Not when my body is a casket and bucket of cold offal._

“You should slap him,” suggested an unfamiliar male voice. Not a Fenrisian accent. What was it?

“No, don’t slap him,” the woman half-laughed.

The realization came to Bjorn with an impact the physical blow might not have carried. You can’t slap a dreadnought…

“Bjorn. Old friend. It’s time to wake up.”

Bjorn felt his hearts skip a beat. That voice…it was 10,000 years later, it was too much to hope. He fixed his optics on…

No, not optics. His eyes. He had eyes! And before them…

“Russ,” he whispered. 

His lord leaned over him, and Bjorn could feel weight beside him. “I came back, Bjorn. I said I would, and I have.”

Time had affected the Wolf King. Two clawmarks diagonally bisected his face. His skin was more tanned and his fangs had become yet more prominent. Bjorn tipped his head to the side. Behind Russ, clad in armour and hides, stood the Wolf Queen. And predictably, at the foot of the bed was Konrad Curze, looking less Night Haunter-esque than Bjorn had ever seen him. His long black hair was now in multiple braids, with bones and feathers woven in. He still wore his midnight armour, but it seemed wider now, as if accommodating a more muscular physique. They all looked strong and well. Bjorn felt his eyes welling up.

“Have I finally joined you in Valhalla?” Bjorn asked.

“Quite the reverse,” Russ assured. “Mother Fenris finally called us home, and we have returned with many sagas and secrets. One of them allowed me to restore your flesh to you. “  
“This is a dream,” Bjorn whispered, despite being able to feel hot tears rolling into his hair. “This can’t be real.”

Russ lifted his hand from the fur coverlet. Bjorn recognized it as his own, but pale and soft as if brand-new. Russ bit the base of the thumb so that Bjorn could feel the pain and see the blood. It clotted immediately, and he felt it when Russ held the palm to his cheek.

“It is true,” Bjorn sighed, wishing he had the strength to laugh.

“Here.” Russ stood and undid the furs he was wearing, dropped his linen shirt and trousers and finally his loincloth. 

Curze emitted a coughing laugh from where he stood. “Allfather’s balls, Leman, can’t you wait till the poor man’s recovered?”

Russ ignored him, lifted the furs and sheets, and slid in beside Bjorn. He gathered his First Captain into his arms, pressing him against his chest. Bjorn was suddenly made aware of how cold he’d been through how warm Russ was. He felt the soft, dense hair of his primarch’s body, the heat of his flesh, and the comfort of his strong limbs around him.

“Leave us,” Russ instructed his other two spouses.

Smiling, Sigrun took Curze’s hand, and they wordlessly left the room.

Bjorn was too weak to sob the way he would have liked, and drifted back into sleep. When he woke, he lay with his eyes closed for a long time, afraid to find that they were optics again, and that his mind was tormenting him with sweet dreams. 

Then he inhaled, and the pungent scent of Russ’s body brought him back to reality.

Bjorn smiled a little and said, “As soon as I am able, I am going to bury my ceramite boot in your arse for abandoning me all these millennia.”

Russ’s laugh was a subsonic rumble. “Aye. And I cannot wait.”


End file.
